Not done – Ethical + Sustainable is the new black! Here’s all you need to know about Circular Fashion

Riya Marwadi

Along with the growing concerns of the current pandemic, also grows the desperate need to control the environmental damage done by wasting tons of excess fabrics and clothing materials through the fashion industry. This is where the concept of circular fashion comes in.

What is Circular Fashion?

Circular fashion revolves around the concept of brands being self-sustaining rather than depleting the limited resources they possess. To aid recyclability, they make use of mono materials wherever possible to ensure that all the products that are made out of multiple materials, can be easily disassembled.

The circular economy relates to the fashion industry in a wide sense involving not only fashion but also apparel, sportswear, and outdoor wear. It is known for using natural resources including energy while producing and consuming.

Processes involved in Circular Fashion:

Once the substances that prevent recycling or cause any sort of pollution are recognized, they are removed immediately with the help of suppliers. One of the processes involves re-using garments for as long as possible through participation in collecting schemes where they help develop technologies that help turn used textiles back to ‘good as new’ raw materials.

Apart from focusing on recycling, Circular fashion also ensures sustainable production. This is done by keeping the extraction of resources and the process of turning materials into productions as sustainable and renewable as possible. All materials used are free from hazardous substances and chemicals to enable a pure flow in society.

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The renewable resources and materials mentioned above are created into products by sustainable change agencies such as the Circular Fashion System. Such agencies help create platforms to help build the circular economy stronger! 

Would Circular Fashion benefit businesses in any way? 

 Motif, which is the apparel knowledge hub that helps transform businesses and careers, states that on average, an American citizen throws away 81 pounds of clothing a year, which amounts to 26 million pounds of clothing simply ending up in landfills. However, one can slowly see American businesses, especially in the fashion industry moving towards a circular fashion economy. Why is that?

Textile production has become one of the most polluting industries today. Therefore a circular economy would help businesses create eco-friendly industries and jobs, and reduce their dependency on imported raw materials. Moreover, eco-friendly companies benefit form a better public image! And if continued, they help reduce the environmental damage caused by resource extraction.

However, creating new business models or evolving the existing businesses on the basis of recycled goods can be very tough. This is because the entire process requires integrating the product life cycle all the way from raw materials to disposal.

Despite these limitations, around 90 brands, from Nike to Adidas and from Everlane to Stella Mccartney, have signed a commitment to stimulating the transition to a circular business model.

Here are some examples of brands evolving into the circular economy

1. Allbirds

Allbirds‘ launch of “sweetfoam” is a bio-degradable and environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum-based materials. The first product that was created was a range of sustainable flip-flops called “sugar zeffers”.

Apart from this particular launch, Allbirds is a sustainable company, and they use wool, sugar, trees, and Trino as their materials to produce all their products.

2. Reebok 

Reebok released plant-based sneakers as a part of the sustainable pledge. This particular launch is a part of the brand’s cotton+corn initiative which aims to reduce its environmental footprints through bio-degradable products.

3. Hugo Boss 

Hugo Boss launched another BOSS shoe collection made of piñatex; an innovative natural material made out of pineapple leaf fibres. All the shoes are available in different colours all of which dyed with natural dyes.

4. ADAY

Aday‘s ‘Plant bae’ collection introduces their very first plant-based fabric, all of which are made from an inventive blend of beech-tree fibres and a special ingredient, Seacell; a fibre made from seaweed.

5. Adidas x Parley for the oceans 

These two companies teamed up to launch sneakers that were entirely made of yarn recycled from the ocean waste and deep-sea gill nets. Each pair of shoes used an equivalent of 11 plastic bottles, which means that Adidas has been successful in recycling around 55 million plastic bottles this year.

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